Daemon threads are those threads which provide general services for user threads (Example : clean up services - garbage collector) Daemon threads are running all the time until kill by the JVM Daemon Threads are treated differently than User Thread when JVM terminates , finally blocks are not called JVM just exits JVM doesn't terminates unless all the user threads terminate. JVM terminates if all user threads are dies JVM doesn't wait for any daemon thread to finish before existing and finally blocks are not called If all user threads dies JVM kills all the daemon threads before stops When all user threads have terminated, daemon threads can also be terminated and the main program terminates setDaemon() method must be called before the thread's start() method is invoked Once a thread has started executing its daemon status cannot be changed To determine if a thread is a daemon thread, use the accessor method isDaemon()

再讲一点(参考:Java并发实践)

当创建一个新线程时，它将继承其守护进程状态 的父母。 当所有非守护进程线程完成时，JVM停止，并放弃所有剩余的守护进程线程: 最后，块不执行， 栈不会被解开——JVM只是退出。 由于这个原因，应该谨慎使用守护线程，将它们用于可能执行任何类型的I/O的任务是危险的。

守护线程就像一个服务提供者，为运行在与守护线程相同进程中的其他线程或对象提供服务。守护线程用于后台支持任务，只有在正常线程执行时才需要守护线程。如果正常线程不运行，其余线程是守护线程，则解释器退出。

例如，HotJava浏览器使用最多4个名为“Image Fetcher”的守护线程从文件系统或网络中为任何需要的线程获取图像。

守护线程通常用于为应用程序/applet执行服务(例如加载“fiddley bits”)。用户线程和守护线程之间的核心区别在于，JVM只会在所有用户线程都终止时关闭程序。当不再有任何用户线程在运行(包括执行主线程)时，守护线程将由JVM终止。

setDaemon(真/假)?此方法用于指定一个线程是守护线程。

公共boolean isDaemon() ?此方法用于确定线程是否是守护线程。

Eg:

public class DaemonThread extends Thread {
    public void run() {
        System.out.println("Entering run method");

        try {
            System.out.println("In run Method: currentThread() is" + Thread.currentThread());

            while (true) {
                try {
                    Thread.sleep(500);
                } catch (InterruptedException x) {}

                System.out.println("In run method: woke up again");
            }
        } finally {
            System.out.println("Leaving run Method");
        }
    }
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Entering main Method");

        DaemonThread t = new DaemonThread();
        t.setDaemon(true);
        t.start();

        try {
            Thread.sleep(3000);
        } catch (InterruptedException x) {}

        System.out.println("Leaving main method");
    }

}

输出:

C:\java\thread>javac DaemonThread.java

C:\java\thread>java DaemonThread
Entering main Method
Entering run method
In run Method: currentThread() isThread[Thread-0,5,main]
In run method: woke up again
In run method: woke up again
In run method: woke up again
In run method: woke up again
In run method: woke up again
In run method: woke up again
Leaving main method

C:\j2se6\thread>

守护线程是在后台执行一些任务的线程，比如处理请求或应用程序中可能存在的各种chronjob。

当你的程序只剩下守护线程时，它将退出。这是因为这些线程通常与普通线程一起工作，并提供事件的后台处理。

你可以使用setDaemon方法指定一个线程是守护线程，它们通常不会退出，也不会被中断。当应用程序停止时，它们就会停止。

当最后一个非守护进程线程执行完成时，JVM将完成这项工作。默认情况下，JVM将创建一个线程作为非守护进程，但我们可以通过setDaemon(true)方法将线程创建为守护进程。Daemon线程的一个很好的例子是GC线程，它将在所有非Daemon线程完成后立即完成它的工作。

让我们只讨论工作示例中的代码。我喜欢russ上面的回答，但为了消除我的疑虑，我稍微加强了一下。我运行了两次，一次工作线程设置为deamon true (deamon线程)，另一次设置为false(用户线程)。它确认守护线程在主线程结束时结束。

public class DeamonThreadTest {

public static void main(String[] args) {

    new WorkerThread(false).start();    //set it to true and false and run twice.

    try {
        Thread.sleep(7500);
    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
        // handle here exception
    }

    System.out.println("Main Thread ending");
    }
   }

   class WorkerThread extends Thread {

    boolean isDeamon;

    public WorkerThread(boolean isDeamon) {
        // When false, (i.e. when it's a user thread),
        // the Worker thread continues to run.
        // When true, (i.e. when it's a daemon thread),
        // the Worker thread terminates when the main
        // thread terminates.
        this.isDeamon = isDeamon;
        setDaemon(isDeamon);
    }

    public void run() {
        System.out.println("I am a " + (isDeamon ? "Deamon Thread" : "User Thread (none-deamon)"));

        int counter = 0;

        while (counter < 10) {
            counter++;
            System.out.println("\tworking from Worker thread " + counter++);

            try {
                sleep(5000);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                // handle exception here
            }
        }
        System.out.println("\tWorker thread ends. ");
    }
}



result when setDeamon(true)
=====================================
I am a Deamon Thread
    working from Worker thread 0
    working from Worker thread 1
Main Thread ending

Process finished with exit code 0


result when setDeamon(false)
=====================================
I am a User Thread (none-deamon)
    working from Worker thread 0
    working from Worker thread 1
Main Thread ending
    working from Worker thread 2
    working from Worker thread 3
    working from Worker thread 4
    working from Worker thread 5
    working from Worker thread 6
    working from Worker thread 7
    working from Worker thread 8
    working from Worker thread 9
    Worker thread ends. 

Process finished with exit code 0